5.30.2010

You Lost Me.

So I raved about Christina Aguilera's performance on the Idol finale last week of a song off her upcoming album Bionic (due June 8). Even if you're not a fan, check out the song in the video below. I think it's crazy awesome and she is memsmerizing to watch; she interprets the hell out of that song.

As I've been replaying this song over and over the last few days, I wondered what genius had sat down at a piano and plunked it out. Found out last night - Australian singer/songwriter Sia, about whom I'm sure I've blogged at least once. Her last album, Some People Have Real Problems, came out in January of '08 and is fantastic; she's a little quirky, definitely has her own sound, and a serious set of pipes. "You Lost Me" has her stamp all over it. I'm stoked! I love it when a music collaboration comes out so right. I only have to wait like ten days to get the album version and that still feels like way too long.



(for some reason, sometimes video embeds mess up the comment link, so if you don't see it just click on the blog post title and it'll take you to the post's individual page with comment section)

Happy Sunday! I have absolutely nothing on my plate, so I might drive to Old Navy and try on some dresses; I wanna have at least one for my trip!

5.21.2010

Why they lost.

ALERT! ALERT! American Idol post. :-)

I'm going to detail why each finalist, up to this week, did not succeed in taking the Idol crown.

12. Lacey Brown - I admire her tenacity, but though her voice was quirky, in the end it simply was not strong enough. No matter what, an Idol winner has to have a seriously strong voice, and she was never going to add that to her resume. Plus, her song choices were kinda bunk.

11. Paige Miles - every few years Simon has a moment of clarity, and I agree with him that she had one of the best voices in the competition. It's usually not good, however, to audition for the show because your co-workers want you to, or your mom, or whoever. You have to go in with a plan, and Paige simply didn't have one. In addition, she often looked dazed, as though she still wasn't sure where she was. And nerves were a problem also.

10. Didi Benami - my official favorite; she wasn't my typical fave, with obvious good looks and a heavy emotional side. But her super-sweet personality, killer voice, and strong stance against judge ridiculosity won me over. However, in this field of contestants, one true misstep was one too many. She took an excellent song choice and performed it as though a fourth member of the Dreams, complete with big curls and glittery gown. That simply wasn't her style. She should have gone acoustic and melancholy, and if unsure of the guitar work allowed, simply had guitarists join her onstage. I was broken to see her go, but at least there was one other person who I liked very well.

9. Andrew Garcia - his pretty awesome take on "Straight Up" during Hollywood week haunted him every week of live competition until he finally, I think, just gave up trying to please the judges. I think that in the end Andrew just wasn't as creative as we wanted him to be, and some very random missteps ("You Give Me Something," "Heard It Through the Grapevine") only added to the lackluster-ness of it all. Very sad. Of course, it would have helped just a bit if the judges didn't insist on actually reminding him of "Straight Up" during every single critique.

8. Katie Stevens - another one of the top voices. Yet strangely, she was far better during the audition rounds than live. She does have a short history of pageants, and that perhaps lent to her performances feeling less than organic. She never really felt the groove, never really let the audience close to her. The facade never cracked. It's hard for someone to gain voter sympathy that way. And so, they stopped caring. I would like to note that I think it's freaking awesome she can speak Portuguese.